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Is It Cheaper to Smoke or to Quit?

You may be thinking of the potential damage to your pocketbook — rather than your lungs — when deciding whether it's smarter to keep smoking or try to quit using a nicotine patch or nicotine gum. We asked experts how the numbers really add up.

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Cigarettes are highly addictive, so when it comes to the effort needed to quit smoking, it's no surprise that people have a lot of trouble with smoking cessation and make up a lot of excuses to not stop smoking.

Recently, a new argument in favor of smoking has caught a lot of experts by surprise: Some smokers now believe that it is cheaper to continue to smoke than to pay for stop-smoking aids, including medications, materials, nicotine replacement therapies, and counseling.

Smoking cessation can indeed be pricey, particularly if you're going to rely on many stop-smoking aids, but can it really surpass buying pack after pack of cigarettes?

The Costs of Quitting — or Not

Say you were using a nicotine patch in combination with nicotine gum, for example. Diane Massucci of the North Shore-LIJ Center for Tobacco Control in Great Neck, N.Y., says that a 12-week supply of the patches would cost $180, and a 12-week supply of the gum would cost about $240. That's $420 for less than three months of nicotine replacement treatment. You can see how your quit-smoking strategies could get expensive fast.

Smoking cessation experts, however, say that it's important to keep these stop-smoking costs in perspective. "In Michigan, where I live, the average cost of a pack of cigarettes is over $6.50," says Amanda L. Holm, MPH, manager of Tobacco Treatment Services at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. "That means that over the course of a year, a pack-a-day smoker will pay more than $2,372 to feed this addiction. That's more than enough savings to buy three or six months worth of nicotine replacement or other medications, or to pay for a class or a few counseling sessions."

In other states, the costs of smoking are even more exorbitant. "On Long Island, cigarettes are $10 per pack, and $12 or more per pack in New York City," says Massucci. "A two-week supply of patches costs $30, and two-week supply of nicotine gum is about $40. It is easy to see that quitting smoking is less costly economically."

What's more, these numbers don't even take into account the potential future health care costs of continuing to smoke. "Smokers cost employers more to employ because smokers take more sick time, use more insurance dollars, and lose about one month of work time per year related to their smoking behaviors," Massucci says. "Quitting smoking or not smoking in the car or home can increase the resale value of the car or home. Non-smokers have lower insurance premiums and increased wellness benefits, as some employers incentivize employees who do not smoke."

The Bottom Line on the Price to Quit Smoking

Add it all up, and it's really not even debatable: Even if you paid full price for all your smoking cessation aids, it's still going to be less expensive in the long run than smoking. "Even if someone needed to take medications for longer than six months, the reduced health care costs down the road would likely result in substantial savings," Holm says.

Plus, people who want to quit smoking also have a number of resources at their disposal that can reduce the cost of quitting. For starters, you can call the national smoking quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW to get transferred to your local quit-smoking hotline. The therapy and counseling sessions offered by these over-the-phone counselors are completely free and have also been shown to be very effective in a number of studies.

What's more, you can ask your counselor if you can get free nicotine replacement products mailed to you: "Many quitlines offer a starter kit of nicotine replacement products, such as free patches, to help the smoker get their quit attempt started," Massucci says.

If you're looking for other ways to save on quitting, don't be afraid to try the generic versions of medication, or the generic or store versions of nicotine replacement products. Holm says that "generic drugs are usually as good as brand-name forms."

Finally, many insurance companies now cover part of the cost of quitting smoking because they've realized that it is in their interest to do so. "If you have insurance, your first step is to contact your insurer and find out what your coverage allows," Holm says.

For the sake of your health — and your wallet — quitting smoking is the way to go.

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